


Love sucks.

by JoeeeeS



Category: Original Work
Genre: <-- maybe., Blow Jobs, First Time, Human/Vampire Relationship, Loss of Virginity, M/M, NSFW, New School, Original Character(s), Original Male/Original male - Freeform, Plot, Social Anxiety, Twin sister, Vampires, nerd, with some porn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-19 16:23:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeeeeS/pseuds/JoeeeeS
Summary: It's Jared's first day at his new school and it's fair to say - he's nervous as hell. Going to a high school different from all your middle school friends, especially when you're a unsocial anxious nerd, can be a hard pill to swallow. Jared knew that he would meet new people, sure, but he didn't expect to find "The One", not in a million years, but the boy, Kai, is more mystery than teenager.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first fic in a long long while, so any constructive criticism and comments will be appreciated! Sorry if this chapter seemed boring, just wanted to build it up.

Jared Arker awoke from his eternal slumber to the noise he knew all too well; his cheap knockoff phones alarm of a cheap band made in garage band, with the aroma of freshly baked pancakes wafting into his nose. This was a continuous cycle every day of his life, and although his mom makes bomb pancakes, he wanted change. He wanted to explore new horizons, new possibilities. He layed back in his half broken, small single bed, and thought to himself, about this new mindset of his.

This mindset was a mistake. A big mistake.

Jared was never an open book, he always kept his problems to himself and himself only. Not even to his other friends back at Mundane Middle School, Beck, Jack and Damion. Beck, the popular-but-not-a-bitch brunette that every boy in the school had a crush on, except Jared, which confused him. Her rich and vibrant blue eyes could illuminate a dark tunnel, her hair falls perfectly without her even trying, like each strand of her hair has a mind of it's own. Jack, the typical middle school jock that seems to know how to play every sport in existence, without even trying, but he wasn't the stereotypical promiscuous jock that all the movies portray them to be, he's sweet, caring, understanding, and his lively dark green eyes compliments this perfectly. He always styles his hair into an amazing quiff of some sort which reeks of expensive product use - something Jared is not interested in pursuing. Then there's Damion, Jared's best and closest friend from first grade, ever since Bryce the Bully (the term Damion himself coined) used to always steal Jared's pocket money. (which causes Jared to laugh, since it's the most typical "I'm a bully" move to do.) But then came along Damion, his knight in shining armour, literally.

At the time, they we're performing some knock off Disney "save the damsel in distress" in first or second grade, and Jared was appointed with the princess role, which to this day, he doesn't know why he opted to do this role. While Jared was putting on his costume for the performance, Bryce, coincidentally the Villain of the production, pushes Princess Jared into the red and rusted locker in front of him, demanding him of all the cash he had on hand. Then along came the knight in shining armour part, Damion, and, in his awesome looking tinfoil and cheap silver spraypainted costume, intimidated the biggest bully in elementary. Jared knew in that moment, although young and vulnerable, they we're going to be friends for life.

8 years later, Damion has changed a lot. Not personality wise, he is always that sweet and selfless boy that seems to sacrifice everything for Jared, which never ceased to make Jared smile. Physically, he is no longer the "Scrawny Nerdy Kid", oh no, he was.. hot. In the summer between 8th grade and 9th grade, Damion grew by almost 10 inches, towering over almost the entire class. His biceps had developed massively, his smile white as snow, and he had several abs which were hard to not look at. Damion changed into an attractive young male, which made Jared cringe, because he now views his best friend as hot, which is weird, finding your male best friend hot, when you're male yourself.

Although Jared promised to stay in contact with the triplets, he knew that he had to make new friends in his new school: Hollister High School. The five star high school that, according to rumours, the secret school that the Kardashian's graduated from. Jared knew this was bullshit, but he felt privileged attending a school as prestigious as Hollister. 

"Jared, wakey-wakey eggs and bakey!" 

His mother screamed up the three story house, waking everything and everyone up in the process, knocking Jared out of his vast thought process. He sighed to himself, concluding that it's time to get out of his Star Wars blanket and into the cold winter air - he left the window open all night again.

"Idiot" he said to himself, as he paced his room, searching for his ideal outfit for the day. At a glance, Jared's bedroom is more on the small side, and is plastered with the same rouge red wallpaper that came with the house when his mom and dad bought the property - 18 years ago. Although Jared's favourite colour was red, he decided it would be nice to change it up at one point. However, at least 80% of the wall is pasted with posters from his favourite video games, movies, and so on. Right above his Star Wars bed, Yoda and Luke are situated, right above his X-box, Lara Croft posed seductively, and so on. The wooden floor creaked and moaned as he navigated the tiny space, as he reaches his desk where his computer, old school work and various brands of aftershave are located. The desk was wooden and was starting to erode, something Jared's dad was meant to take care of 3 years ago, which obviously never happened.

"Jared, food's getting cold!"

"Alright! Jeez.." To his parents defence, Jared spent way too much time picking out his outfit for the day, 'he needed to look perfect and not like a social anxious nerd', he thought to himself. Before exiting his room, he glanced at his musky mirror and admired himself for a moment, examining his outfit. Black jeans, white plain t-shirt with a black jacket to juxtapose with the white shirt. Although he tried to style his hair, it remained 80% bed hair, which he didn't mind - he kinda thought it looked good, and if he likes it, it's all that matters, he thought. After a few moments glancing, he opened the door which resulted in a creek, and exited the room.

Almost sprinting down the stairs, following the seductive and orgasmic smell of his mothers pancakes, he made it to the dinner table where his twin sister Rose Arker, dad Jimmy Arker and mom Martha Arker sat, already half finished with their breakfast. This means he's going to finish his breakfast twice as fast, as Rose is almost done and he doesn't want to be late on the first day. Not wanting to delay any more time, Jared took his seat at the family table.

When he was seated, Jared this time to examine the room and it's inhabitants. Rose, with no doubts, is the looks of the Arker family, a title that she is not afraid to flaunt to Jared and her parents. Her dirty blonde hair curled to the utmost perfection, each strand of hair following the same curved pattern, which progresses way past her shoulders and half way down her back, and her beautiful brown eyes which is complimented by her makeup that has been applied professionally, it's almost like she has had a makeover from Pat McGraph herself. Her face is flawless - no acne, no pimples, and when she smiles, which is often, two dimples appear on both sides of her mouth, which pairs well with her glistening white and straight teeth. At this moment, Jared is beginning to understand why she had so many boyfriends in Mundane.

Seated adjacent to Rose was Martha, the middle aged cook and mother of the Arker family, sipping at her cup of coffee, which smells delicious, thought Jared; if they weren't already late, he wouldn't have hesitated to ask for some too. With the position that Martha is holding her cup, her decadent gold and diamond engagement glistened from the reflection of the winter sun, which, according to Rose's research, cost over $2000 - 'Dad must have been burned for money after that investment', thought Jared, smiling to himself. Progressing his sight upwards, Jared could clearly see Martha's butter blonde shoulder length hair, a look which she rocked, her beginning-to-age- face, which, similar to Rose, was plastered in expensive product and makeup, though to Jared's surprise, Rose is now way better at the whole "makeup" scene than her own mother. 'Wow' is all he could fathom to think after that epiphany.

Seated right beside Martha was Jimmy, the workload of the Arker family. Weirdly, he was stroking the floral pattern tablecloth, seemingly in deep thought. 'Perhaps about work stuff' Jared came to the conclusion, therefore he did not bother in trying to engage in small talk and would rather wait for the small talk to begin in someone else's terms - being socially anxious, this is a practise that Jared has become second nature for him now; always wait for someone else to initiate the conversation, not him. This way, he won't always have to think of what to say, which panics him. Glancing up at Jared's father face, he could tell that he was a good looking guy back in the day. Not to say he isn't good looking now, he just understood why his mom went for the brown haired, muscular, strong and attractive boy all the way back in high school. Jimmy's jawline was perfect, as if it was chiselled by a world renowned architect, which harboured smartly groomed facial hair, that progresses from his hair to his chubby cheeks, then down to his chin. 'If I am to grow up to look like that, I'm not that disappointed' Jared thought before he stopped staring at his dad rudely, and instead started to dig in to the, now cold, overcooked pancakes. 

"Excited to start high school kids?" Martha exclaimed, oblivious to the fact that high school in the 80's is so much more different than now - there is no Pink Ladies Gang or T-birds anymore, mostly just the "popular" and the "not popular" groups, which encompasses the whole school population, well, that's what Jared learnt on Yahoo Answers the night before.

"Yeah, I guess so" Rose replied to her mother in a monotone voice. Jared knew she was lying, I mean, they're twins. They have grown up and lived with each other since the very beginning, and they both possess the ability to sense when the other party is lying. Maybe we are linked in some way, we share the same brain wavelength maybe, completely defying biology, like in those Sci-Fi fil-

"What about you, Jared? Excited to make new friends?" Jimmy said, blowing Jared out of his strange thoughts, which he was thankful for, if he's being honest.

"Uh, yeah I guess, meeting new people is cool" Jared could almost feel Rose's stare glare straight to his core, knowing he is lying; 'deja vu', he thought to himself.

"Honey, I know that you will miss your old friends, but you need to get used to change and meet other people, sorry to say but Damion isn't going to hold your hand forever and skip through life with you. You both have to choose your own paths." Martha told Jared, which caused him to frown, thinking back to all the memories Damion and the others had created with Jared. He knew that he will see them sometime soon, but not attending the same school, the same classes, studying together in the crowded library, put a sour taste in Jared's mouth.

"I know. Thanks, mom." Jared said thankfully. Martha always knew the right things to say. She was branded the "Advice Giver" family member, a position that Jimmy has never been good at, since most of the time he is working away at his construction job all the way in New York, almost 3 states away from home. Jared isn't afraid to admit to himself; he misses him sometimes.

"Wait.. Damion and your other, 'people', aren't coming to Hollister? What a shame." Rose said with disdain in her voice. Rose and Jared, alike with any twin sibling relationship, fight a lot. Sometimes about pointless things, for example this coincidence. 'Just because all her barbie friends are following their queen bee to Hollister, doesn't mean she has to mock me' Jared thought, smirking at the remark he is about to deliver to Rose.

"Just because you have a whole new kettle of boys to sleep with doesn't mean I can't make new friends." Rose gasped in horror as she hurled curse after curse at Jared, but he tuned all of that nonsense out as pride took the better of him and he admired himself for the argument he had, seemingly, won.

"Jared!" Martha said coldly, while Jimmy chuckled and held his hand out for a high five. Jared instinctively connected his hand with Jimmy's which resulted in a loud cracking sound. 

"Alright kids, let's finish up and get you to Hollister!" Martha said in an excited voice, almost jumping out of her own skin. She grabbed her car keys from the stained desktop, kissed her husband goodbye and signalled for Rose and Jared to follow, like they are her soldiers or something. Jared knew that Hollister was the school that his mom and dad met in, which is why he thinks she's so excited, and maybe why she persuaded him to go to Hollister and not stay at Mundane and enter the high school department.

After saying their goodbyes to dad, Rose and Jared follow Martha outside the house and the freezing air hit them; neither were ready for the day, a new chapter in their life, their chance to find true love, blah blah blah. Jared just wanted the day to be over so he can return back to playing his video games with Damion, that's always the highlight of his day. After strapping in securely, Martha floored the pedal and off they were, to Hollister. Jared wondered, if this "new change" of his, is worth it.


	2. The New Chapter in his life.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared arrives at Hollister for the first time and meets some interesting people.

The car ride to Hollister seemed to last forever, even though Jared knew the school was around five minutes away from his house. Tiny droplets of frozen rain splatter against the window which is quickly swept away with the window cleaners, leaving a trail of water drops in a circular motion. Jared re-positioned his body for the third time in the short amount of time he was situated in the car. Unfortunately, the Ford Focus the family bought back when Jared and Rose were 7 has well exceeded its use by date - the Arker family, well, aren't the richest family in the neighbourhood. Martha doesn't work ever since the birth of the twins, and Jimmy's job is certainly not the highest paying, but despite all of this, they still cope and keep marching on, which is inspirational to Jared; even when you're in the toughest of times, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel.

Jared glanced over at Rose, who had her up to date model phone and expensive wireless earphones plugged directly into her ear lobes, music blasting directly into her brain. Although the sound is muffled, it is clear that it is pop that she is listening to. Jared could never understand why people invest so many hours listening to pop, it's practically the same song over and over. Strangely, Jared doesn't have a music taste. He knows that rap and hip hop seem to be popular in his male range, but he could never understand what the rappers are saying and why they are singing about drugs and the next girl they're going to sleep with. 'Why do I see the worst in everything... that's probably why I can't connect with people.' crossed Jared's mind, as the car began to brake and slow down at the gate of the school. Surrounding the gate was a sign reading "Welcome to Hollister. Children become adults." 'Creepy', both Rose and Jared thought.

"Have a good day kids! And if you need anything, at all, or get kicked out, or bullied, or-"

"Mom, we're going to be fine, stop stressing. Jeez.." Rose interrupted, accompanied with a bitchy eye roll. Normally, Jared would call out Rose for her unnecessary rudeness towards her mother, but he just wanted to sink his teeth into high school life as fast as possible. After saying their goodbyes to Martha, Rose and Jared both step out the car and walk through the gate.

The pavement below their feet crackled, as if they are stepping on a million salt shakers. Instinctively, Jared looked to his side, half expecting Rose to be standing there, yet she wasn't. After further investigation of his surroundings, he spotted Rosa by the rather large fountain protruding water upwards into the air, until gravity does its part and pulls the liquid back into the basin of the structure. Jared could almost taste the fake-ness radiating off Rose and her friends, as they did their grand reunion, even though Jared knew that they saw each other yesterday, and the day before, and before that...

Sighing, Jared spots a vacant seat on a lonely oak bench, that had the initials of someone on them, however the text has faded and is now illegible. After taking a seat and placing his bag at the side of him, so no one comes and sits next to him, he examined his now, high school courtyard.

Beyond the fountain held the main bulk of the high school, which honestly looked like Hogwarts. If Jared was a tourist and didn't know better, he would believe that this school was a castle from the middle century. Peering at the base of the building, where the grand double doors that grant students and staff alike access to the school, he could make out a large nyan sign that read "Student Timetables Here". Concluding that he needs to collect his student timetable, he collected his bag and was about to rise from his seat until a voice, that definitely wasn't Rose's, came from behind him.

"Hello." Startled, Jared turns to meet eyes with a boy that was dressed predominately in black, short brown hair that was styled in a Victorian quiff, 'way better than Jack's attempt at a quiff', Jared thought. Eerily, the boys skin was as pale as the snow on the ground beneath them, as if he has not met the sun in a millennia. After closer inspection, Jared figured out that the boys eye colour was brown, which went perfectly with his hair colour. 'I wonder if he's wearing makeup to be that Gothic.'

"Oh, hey." Jared responded, casually. Thinking about it, who in the 21st century greets people with 'Hello'? Although the boy was being polite nevertheless, Jared couldn't help but be creeped out by him.

The boy didn't respond, which caused Jared to grow more and more anxious. Ever since he was young, Jared developed this habit where, when he is in an anxious situation, he would sweat profusely, which was embarrassing to say the least. He knew that the goth boy, which is the name Jared appointed him, noticed how much he is sweating, as his eyesight traced a droplet of sweat, that flooded from my scalp to my forehead.

"The names Kai, short for Malachi. And you are..?" The Goth Boy's- no, Kai's, voice was deep, but not deep enough to not make it obvious that he is the same age as Jared. Everytime Kai spoke, Jared almost felt intrigued to respond to him, which is something he hasn't felt with someone else, ever, not even Damion. And he has only just met the guy!

"Jared, Jared Arker." He responded with not a problem in the world, which caused Jared to instinctively grin. 

"Arker..." Kai repeated Jared's surname, as if he recognised it, which is impossible as he has never met Kai before. Or has he? 

"Yep, Arker. A-R-K-E--"

"I know how to spell Arker, Jared." Kai cut in, smiling to the other shorter boy. Normally, when people try to spell out his surname, they would add that annoying extra C before the K, but Kai perfected it on the very first time. 'Impressive', he thought. After some moments of silence, the iconic high school bell rung in the distance behind Jared. Not wanting to be late, he figured he should get going now.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Kai, but duty calls, I guess." Jared picked up his black and white rubber school bag and began to walk to the front entrance, but halted and turned to ask if Kai wanted to walk with him.

"Hey, Kai, wanna wa-" Jared paused half way through his utterance, as Kai was no longer standing there, as if he disappeared. Confused, Jared took a moment to gather his surroundings to try and spot the pale boy, but he was no where to be seen, as if he vanished in thin air. Weirded out, Jared turned to face the entrance again and started his journey once more, the look of confusion pasted all over his face.

The walk to the front entrance was merely a few yards, yet it seemed like a million miles away, as if every step Jared takes, another 50 he has to take. Bluebirds chirped in the trees that whistled in the winter wind, as if they were secretly communicating to each other. Although Jared didn't want to eavesdrop, it was extremely hard to filter out any foreign sounds and conversations. 

"And then he said that he doesn't want to sleep with me anymore, like what the hell?" Maybe you shouldn't have gone to school with half your body showing then.

"And I heard, that in the next game, there will be an option to toggle the girls's nudity." Yup. Creep central.

"I'm so excited to start this new grade. New grade, new me!" God. Jared couldn't help but cringe at the fakeness. In reality, said person is shitting themselves, their defensive body language making it obvious to anyone with more than three brain cells.

After a century of walking, Jared reached his destination: the grand double doors. Although before entering the facility, he had to collect his student timetable, which told him when and where he had his varied lessons. After following the simple instructions, he found his unique page of paper with all his subjects that he chose beforehand - History, Geography and Mathematics. Although he had his timetable, curiosity took over, and he navigated himself to the "K" section, in the search for Kai's timetable. Due to his coincidental alphabetical name, he was the first among many pages of A4 paper. Trying not to crease the paper, Jared examined the subjects Kai chose. 'What the hell?'

"History, Geography and Mathematics.." Jared whispered to himself. 'What are the chances of the one boy that speaks to me, chose all the same subjects as me?'

"Hey, stop holding up the queue, dickface!" Someone shouted from the back. Although the remark was rude, he did create a standstill. Out of politeness, Jared put back Kai's timetable and move out of the way so the queue could progress.

"Well, this is it, dickface." He murmured to himself as he walked through the doors and into high school life, the smell of BO and cannabis instantly enveloping his nasal cavities. To his expectation, red and blue lockers stacked adjacent to each other at the sides of the hallway, each with a lockpad on and the inspiring, yet cringe words "Be the best version of you."

Movement in the hallway was a tough challenge, due to hormonal teenage boys and how they loooove to take up 50% of the path to show off their rather impressive biceps, flaunting their football team with the generic jerseys that never seems to change in every high school. Jared couldn't even hear himself think, with the hundreds of conversations taking place simultaneously, a trait that followed Jared from Mundane to Hollister. Although hard to see, it is clear to Jared that the floor had some sort of pattern running along, which after further inspection, looked like a dragon. 'Cool, better than a boring plain flo-'

Unintentionally, Jared collided with another person head on, which resulted in the other person dropping their text books and papers, knocking him out of his thoughts, literally. Jared felt awful, 'this is totally on me, I wasn't even looking where I was going! Such an idiot!' The sigh that exited the girls mouth could be heard from Mars, he could tell that she is pissed. Like really pissed, if her penetrating eyes didn't give that away already.

"Watch where you're going, jerk!" That cut Jared deep as he dropped to the floor to recover the books and papers that he knocked out of her hands. 

"I'm so sorry, this was all me. Here let me help" Sincerely, Jared picked up the papers and pages as she collects the fallen text books. Then he uses this importunity to take a good look at the girl. First thing he noticed was her large rectangular glasses, that covered at least 30% of her petite face, which to his surprise, wasn't enveloped with makeup - she was completely natural. Her hair, however definitely wasn't, as hot pink strands fall from her scalp down to her shoulders, which Jared thought was awesome, although he wanted to know what she looks like when she doesn't have a mad face. After a few moments, all the papers and text book were once again back in her folded arms, which is when Jared noticed her light blue cardigan.

"Thanks for the help, sorry about calling you a jerk, most guys would just walk past. Assholes." Jared couldn't help but laugh, as he honestly shared the same opinion as her, since he hasn't even been in the school for 1 hour and was already called dickface by some jock.

"It's okay, it was my fault all this happened anyway."

She raised her hand. "Lyla, and mysterious boy is called..?" 

He conjoined his hand with hers and shook it, at a rhythmic pattern "Jared" he said, smiling back at the nerdy looking Lyla.

Jared spotted Lyla reading his timetable and the subjects he chose, expecting the next utterance to be "Hey.. you take blah blah too?"

"Math, eh? We are in the same class last period." She said, beaming.

"Oh, awesome." Although he would love to learn more about Lyla, he really wanted to get to his first period History class early, so he can take the seat closest to the back, away from everyone. "It was nice to meet you Lyla, but I'm gonna head to class now"

"Already? Class doesn't start for another 15 minutes" 

"I really wanna choose my seat before the others start piling in" He said, telling the truth.

Jared could sense the disappointment in the tone of her voice. "Oh, okay well, I'll see you in math later. Bye Jared"

"Bye Lyla"

After saying his goodbyes, Jared looked back down at his time table. "Room 34E..." he whispered to himself, as he tried to navigate through the testosterone and girls that plagued the hallways. After following the signs that were scattered all around the hallway, he quickly found 34E, and, thankfully, no one was in the room. After taking a breath, he opened the door and entered the room.

Immediately, the brisk smell of old paper and wood hit him like a truck, as Jared looked around the classroom. At the front of the room, situated the teachers desk that had a 'Mr Delaney' plaque on it, which seemed odd to Jared. On the desk was a desk lamp, a cup that held a number of spare black pens, blank and lined paper at the right side, and in the middle, the textbook with the large bold title "History" smacked in the middle of the cover, identical to the books placed at every desk in the room. Behind the desk was an interactive whiteboard, and to the right of that, an actual whiteboard, which already had the message "Welcome students!" written across the top.

Turning around, Jared examined the four walls that make up the room. Each wall, minus the wall behind the desk which held the boards, had posters and pages of information plastered on top of it, something that Jared had not seen before in Mundane. After stepping closer to the walls, he could read the information, which seemed to be about world wars and the civil wars, which Jared is already clued up on thanks to the documentaries his dad loved to watch in the evenings.

After reading more of the useful posters, Jared decided it was time to finally pick his seat for his History class. One seat was standing out to him, seat "29", in the very back right of the class, away and secluded from everyone else. "Perfect" Jared said as he approached the desk. Predictability, the desk was wooden and filled with graffiti from past students that were bored out of their mind, Jared recalls when Damion did the same thing in Computing class, gosh we hated that class with the weirdo teacher and bitchy girls. 'No, stop thinking about Damion. This is my path, not his' Jared thought, and all Damion thoughts ceased from his long term memory. Pulling the metal chair back on the carpet, which resulted in friction between the steel and the carpet which created a noise that seemed to go straight through Jared. After some moments, he sat down and took out his Star Wars pencil case and laid it on the old desk.

After a few moments, students started to pour in, infecting the once quiet room with their bickering and over-the-top laughs. After brief moments of socialisation, the students picked their seats and settled. To be expected, the seat next to Jared, '28', was vacant, ' no one wants to sit next to the boy with a Star Wars pencil case, of course.' Jared thought until, someone proved him wrong.

Jared was startled to see that the boy sitting beside him was a familiar face - Kai. 'He totally planned this' Jared thought, as he tried his hardest to pretend he hadn't noticed him when he sat down, which just resulted in awkward and embarrassing random movements of his legs.

"Jared. Jared A-R-K-E-R, is it?" Kai said, playfully mocking the boy.

"Oh, Kai.. you take history too?" Putting on his best show, because he damn well already knew that.

"Yeah, I have quite a vast memory, so history is a pretty easy subject for me." Kai responded, his voice soothing to Jared.

"Oh, right noted.. hey.. I don't want to sound rude but.. is it makeup that makes you that pale?" Jared had to ask before curiosity killed him.

"Oh, no. Just allergic to the sun I guess." Kai responded, smiling and showing off his perfect teeth.

Jared has never felt more.. relaxed in his whole life. He felt like he had known Kai his entire life, even though this was the first day of the pair meeting. He hasn't replaced, and never will replace, Damion, but.. he is someone that Jared would like to get to know more, he is more mystery than teenager, right now. He could feel Kai's presence eyeing him up and down.

"How old are you, Kai?" Jared knew he was his age but he wanted to be sure.

"154 years old." Kai said, almost instantaneously. "14 years old."

"Yeah, me too. You just sound like, with the way you speak, you're from another timezone altogether" I chuckled, raising my hand waiting for Kai to realise and notice. When he did, he professionally shook his hand, but his hand.. it was cold, freezing in fact. As soon as Jared made contact with Kai's hand, he winced from shock. "God, you're freezing Kai."

"Get that alot." Kai uttered, as if he was expecting Jared to say that, as if he read his mind.

"But, it's so warm in here. Wh-" Before Jared could finish his sentence, a middle aged bald man walked in, which Jared concluded to be Mr Delaney. To compliment his bald head, Mr Delaney had a huge beard, the ones you see on gnomes that go all the way down to their feet. 'Okay, not that bad.' Jared said as he observed further and saw that the beard only went down to his chest area. He was stereotypical; he was wearing the generic 'teacher' get up, jeans, white shirt with a blue tie, which seemed to be old as the blue fabrics are starting to fade away, and Jared noticed that the teacher had a large golden ring wrapped around his finger, indicating he wasn't a lonely man.

"Take your seats and stop the conversations. I'm Mr Delaney, and I will be your new history teacher." He continued and continued with the normal first lesson crap that all teachers pre-plan before the lesson, just so the students know his expectations of them and stuff like that. Jared was in deep concentration, until a note, passed by Kai, got his attention. He opened the note and found the following message, written in beautiful handwriting, the sort you see in those old books:

"Meet me in the library at 12:30 pm. We can continue our chat."

Jared read the note over and over, a feeling of excitement jolting through him. He made his first friend, an actual friend. Jared can't wait to flaunt that in Rose's face, who made it certain that he will not make any friends. For once, and to Jared's surprise, this new change of his, it's working out.


	3. Chapter 3

As the clock struck noon, Jared arose from his seat after a pain staking 1 hour of introductory crap. Concentrating on the lesson was a definite struggle for Jared, after Kai, the enigmatic boy, arranged for the pair to meet in the library, which resulted in Jared feeling excited, but also vigilant. Although Kai seems to be of no harm, Jared can't forget how suspicious the boy has been acting ever since he met him, such as choosing the exact same subjects as him, out of 40 or 50 courses, the time he repeated his name back to Jared, as if 'Arker' is stored way back in Kai's illusive mind, and so on. Nevertheless, Jared was unsettled all through his first History lesson in Hollister.

As Kai was right next to him in class, Jared figured he would ask Kai to walk with him to the library, "Kai, walk with m...Kai?" well, that's at least what he was planning, but the boy had already packed up and left the class, presumably to the same destination as Jared. 'This is the second time he has done this today, how can he be so fast? He was right here a minute ago' Jared thought.

After concluding that Kai is not in the room anymore, Jared manoeuvred his way out of the cramped classroom and into the busy Hollister Hallway. Taking a moment to think, as he paused and searched for the "Library this way" sign, which he presumed would be close to the English department. Following his instincts, Kai navigated to the English Department, which secreted a scent of cheap hand sanitiser and sweat. Planted around randomly were posters of Shakespeare plays: over by the room E45, Othello, by the English Office, Romeo and Juliet, and so on. The English Department was definitely the peaceful part of Hollister, as almost all gossip and conversations are filtered out, like the air has some sort of spell in here which results in silence, maybe cast by one of the witches from MacBeth which was on display in the entrance to the department. 'Perfect place for a library to be situated', thought Jared, and with no surprise, he was correct, as Jared spotted the automatic doors open and close as another student exited.

After waiting for the student to walk out, Jared started to walk towards the sliding doors, the modern doors opening as he moved closer and closer. Through the condensed door windows, Jared could make out the generic design of a library - bookshelves, tables and chairs, etc. However, as the doors parted, the scene of a modernised, rather large library were planted in front of him, rows upon rows of shelves all filled to the brim with books, magazines, and comics. Jared could almost taste the stress in the air, being secreted from both student and staff alike, as they work on assignments given by their teachers in the first period. However, Jared was lucky; he was given no work by Mr Delaney, 'a miracle', he thought - extra time to play with Damion later!

Jared narrowed his eyesight upwards, where the second floor was. On the ceiling, a rather large chandelier hung, providing light to the whole room, accompanied with the huge windows that let natural light illuminate the building, making the space feel even more safe and relaxing, despite the stress that is plaguing the room. Surrounding the room was four walls, all painted a bland white, which complimented the wooden and brownish bookshelves perfectly. On each bookshelf, a shelf number, book number range and topic were stated on top in stands in laminated plain paper, purposed to help students find what they're looking for. In the near distance, clicking and typing could be heard, but no computers or laptops could be seen, which his when Jared figured out that if the students needed to research, the computers were situated upstairs.

Jared glanced at the clock placed on the wall, as the hands were pointed at 25 and 12. 'Five minutes early, but I'm sure Kai is here, he practically disappeared in history earlier'. Therefore, Jared started his search for the pale boy, first starting in the most obvious of spaces, which he was thankful he wasn't there, 'too out in the open', Jared thought. Unsuccessful, Jared walked to the very back of the library, where little to no students were. After turning a corner, a small area with a sofa, table and chair were set perfectly, and relaxing on the grey fabric sofa was Kai.

"You're 2 minutes early." Kai slowly said, as he eyed the troubled boy towering over him.

"Yeah well, so are you. How long have you been sat here?"

"Since quarter past the hour." Meaning Kai was fifteen minutes early, 'why?' Jared thought.

"Oh right.. hey how come you just disappeared earlier? It's like you just teleported out of the room, I was going to ask you if you wanted to walk with me."

"Oh, sorry. I just wanted that monotonous room as fast as possible. I apologise for leaving so sudden, Jared."

"Monotonous room? Seriously Kai?" Jared chuckled, which had a chain reaction onto Kai, as it was the first time he saw the boy smile. At this time, Jared set his bag down beside the sofa and took his seat at a reasonable distance from Kai.

"So.. how did you find our first History lesson?" Jared asked, in the attempt to make small talk.

"..Monotono-" Kai halted his sentence. "Boring. We didn't even learn anything new, just that Mr Delaney is an incredibly dull person"

"Hey, he's not that bad. You should have had my asshole of a math teacher back in middle school, Mr Crawley, then we can talk" Jared replied with a smile plastered on his face, a sight not many, minus Damion, get to see.

"So.. where we're we, until we were interrupted?" Kai asked, interrogatively.

"I commented on how cold your hands were, when the room was as hot as the core of the sun. Too warm, if you asked me."

"I told you, I am incredibly allergic to the sun." 

"Well clearly not, this room is full of sunlight, which I find rather relaxing, to be honest."

"My..family.. has had a pale skin problem ageing back all the way to the 19th century. Just genes, I guess." Jared noticed the slight hesitation when Kai mentioned his family, he could almost sense the tension in the words. Although curious, he decided to not mention it.

"Oh well, day sucks. I identify myself as a nocturnal creature of the night anyway, like a vampire." Jared admitted, which caused a slight side eye from Kai.

"Well, in modern vampire literature and culture, the creatures are able to navigate in the direct sunlight and the dim light of the moon, through the means of spells." Kai admitted, as if he was a pro in the field.

"Well.. I liked the contrast in older novels. Vampires, dark, evil creatures that feed on the life essence of humans should remain in the darkness and the shadows, not in broad daylight." Jared responded, as Dracula came to mind when Kai mentioned vampiric literature.

"Sometimes, contrasts are saturated enough over the ages that what you think are fact, are no longer, hence why vampires in Twilight sparkle in the sun. Blasphemy." The tone of voice Kai omitted then was rather fierce, as if he took that comment of Jared's to heart.

"Who are you, Dracula himself?" Jared smiled.

"Something like that." Kai eerily said, but his smile connoted to Jared that he was joking, which caused Jared to untense his broad and timid shoulders.

"Anyway, I didn't catch your surname, Malachi...?"

"Price. Malachi Price, but please, refer to me as Kai Price." 'Kai Price..' Jared repeated in his head. 'That's a pretty cool name, way better than Arker.'

"Well, Kai Price.. tell me more about yourself. Hobbies, funny moments and whatever" Jared asked, hoping some blanks in his brain could be filled.

"If you haven't already noticed, I like to read, literature, to be exact. On top of that, I'm rather creative, so I do love to paint from time to time."

"Oh awesome, I'd love to view some of your paintings some time, I bet they're wicked."

"Yes.. they are indeed wicked." Jared couldn't stop himself from laughing after he heard Kai utter wicked.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing just, the way you said wicked. Are you from around here?" Jared asked, which should hopefully fill the 'Where are you from' box.

"No. Me and my family.. moved to America not too long ago. I am originally from England, London to be exact." 'That explains the weird accent, it's a mix of English and American' Jared finally deduced.

"What's it like in England? Do you all wear top hats and sip tea constantly?" Kai cringed, which is exactly the answer Jared was expecting.

"Life in London was problematic for me and my family. We were pretty much kicked out the country, for reasons you do not need to know. Who cares, the United States of America is a much better place to live anyway. Much more lively." 

"I'm sorry to hear that, it must suck moving out so young." Jared responded, sympathetically.

"It's okay, if I didn't I wouldn't have met you, butterfly effect." Jared has heard that concept before, probably in one of his video games he has played.

"Even if you didn't meet me, I'm sure you would have met someone more interesting than the kid that has the Star Wars pencil case." Jared frowned as a result of the words he just said.

After Jared spoke those words, Kai shifted closer to Jared and put his freezing hand on top of Jared's, staring directly into the boys eyes. "Do not speak of yourself like that. You are not defined as the "Star Wars pencil case", you are Jared, Jared Arker. A-R-K-"

"Okay okay, I get it, no need to spell it out." Jared smiled, revealing all of his straight but slightly crooked teeth, as he continued to stare into Kai's eyes. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed, as if someone pushed a light switch. All Jared could think of is Kai's beautiful brown eyes, and his smile. The pair slowly started to close the difference between their faces, until a voice, a females, broke the compulsion.

"Jared? Oh hey, I didn't expect to see you here." It was Lyla, holding a book that read 'Computing in the Modern World'. After her introduction, the world around Jared seemed to filter back to him - the typing, the whispers, the sound of the librarian stamping the books with the schools address, etc. "Oh... who's this?"

"Oh, uhm yeah, Lyla, Kai. Kai, Lyla."

"Sup Kai, pleasure to meet you." 

"No, the pleasure is all mine, Lyla." Kai responded, which resulted in suspicious side eyes from Lyla to Jared. "Well, I best leave you too to tal-" Kai is interrupted when Jared grabs his arm as he is about to leave.

"No, Kai please stay, pleaaaaaaase?" Jared said, playfully. "And in the meantime, give me your phone number" Jared demanded, which after swapping phones, was done.

"Anything else, Jared?" Kai said in a mocking but joking way.

"Hmm.. nope nothing comes to mind"

"So Jared, are you excited for Math together? Pleaaaase sit next to me." 

"I guess I'm excited, and only if we are at the back, I hate sitting in the middle of the cl-" Jared is interrupted by the sensation he knew all too well - Kai's dead cold hand grabbing Jared's right hand under the table and holding it, using his thumb to stroke at the top of his hand, which was satisfying in any way possible. "Uhm.. yeah i hate sitting in the middle of the class, too much.. dis-distractions."

"It's a deal then. The back it is." Lyla playfully responded.

"Kai, what do you have last lesson?" Jared asked, who is also using his thumb to stroke Kai's palm.

"Math too, but I'm not in the same class as you guys." Kai responded, to the confusion of the other two people in the room.

"...How do you know that? I never told you what teacher I have" Lyla counteracted.

"Neither did I. What are you, a mind reader?" Jared smiled, as the bell signalling the end of lunch rung through the school. Jared frowned as Kai unhinged his hand from Jared's and stood up abruptly.

"Well it was lovely meeting you Lyla, I hope to speak with you soon. I best get off, I am free for an hour or so."

"I have tutorial.. hey maybe I can skip and come with you Kai?" Jared suggested, 'please say yes please say yes please say yes'.

"I'm afraid not, go to tutorial, I don't want to be the reason of your attendance percentage plummeting." Kai responded to Jared's disappointment. Frowning, Jared arose.

"Well okay.. hey I'll see you later in math class Lyla. Save me a seat!" 

"Will do!" 

The three kids left the library and went in opposite directions, Jared walking towards his homeroom, but he could still feel Kai's prescence; his cologne, his cold thumb stroking at Jared's hand, everything. 'Screw homeroom.' Jared thought as he followed the direction Kai went in, which was oddly out of the building. Jared was full of excitement, he gets to spend another hour with Kai alone, well, that is if he catches up, he's incredibly fast.


End file.
